Notes of encouragement: Experiencing audience reception of AI-generated messages

Abstract

Students explored using generative AI to create relational messages as well as audience reactions to both human-created and AI-created notes of encouragement. The activity helped students understand the practical, relational, and ethical implications of incorporating AI into communication tasks. By the end of the activity, students could discern between human- and AI-generated content, assess AI communication’s strengths and weaknesses, and evaluate the emotional impact of AI-created messages. The exercise highlighted AI’s utility for certain tasks but emphasized the need for human oversight, particularly for tasks requiring emotional depth. The results underscore the importance of educating future communicators about AI’s capabilities, ethics, and limitations. Courses This activity was completed in a 200-level media writing course. The activity could also be used in a business communication or public relations course. The activity spans roughly 90 minutes, making it ideal for an extended evening class or split across two 45-minute sessions. Objectives By the end of this activity, students will be able to: (1) describe their exploration with message creation with and without generative AI; (2) describe the strengths and weaknesses of using generative AI; (3) explain the similarities and differences of human-powered and AI-generated content in terms of tone, audience, and message effectiveness; and (4) discuss the ethics of incorporating generative AI into message strategy.